


opposites

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [64]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Collab Week, College AU, F/M, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 07:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14232333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: College AU: Mattie and Odi are pretty different, but maybe that’s a good thing.





	opposites

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [college au](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/369456) by lightsaberlesbian. 



> This is a prequel for Collab Week, written for a college au by lightsaberlesbian on tumblr. Hopefully the link to it should work now! But if not, you basically just need to know that Laura is the basketball coach at Mattie’s college, and Odi is a footballer from a different one. 
> 
> (This was one of my favourite AUs to come out of the Humans 4-Week Challenge so I was psyched to adopt it for a little while!)

“I thought you said sport wasn’t your thing,” Odi said, combining raised eyebrows with that gentle smile he had, so she could never quite tell if he was being serious or not.

“It isn’t, really,” said Mattie, twirling her spoon in her drink. “But I have a friend on the cheer squad, and…” She braced herself to reveal the one fact she’d been specifically hiding from her football-obsessed, jock boyfriend for almost four months. “My mom’s the, uh, the basketball coach. So I go to the important matches as, like… an apology for the fact that I have never even slightly wanted to be in one.”

Odi gave a low whistle. “Your mom’s the coach? At Highbridge? Do you realise that basically makes you basketball royalty around here?”

Mattie half-smiled. “Yeah, they do kinda have a reputation. Although I’m surprised anyone from Park cares about the lowly world of basketball enough to know that.”

“Mattie, I’m not some kind of shallow, one-track-mind football player,” he said, grinning. “I care about plenty of other things.”

Mattie couldn’t help grinning back. “Yeah, like flavors of jelly.”

“I dunno what to tell you, the menu said apricot, and it just wasn’t. I can let a lot of things slide, especially on a second date, but not that.”

She laughed. “Well, it wasn’t enough to put me off a third date, so I guess it can’t be that weird.”

He made a small gesture of victory. “Score one to apricot jelly.”

Mattie took another sip of her drink. “So what do your parents do?”

“My dad’s a philosophy professor,” he told her.

“Oh, neat. College or high school?”

“College.” He paused, glancing down at his drink and then back up at Mattie. “My mom was a nurse, but, she died when I was six.”

“Shit,” said Mattie immediately. “Sorry, I had no idea.”

“Not your fault. I never said.” Odi smiled, and to heal the awkward silence, he added, “Hey, you didn’t ask what college my dad works at. Hint: they have a really great basketball program.”

“No way!” Mattie spluttered. She wrinkled her nose. “I can only think of two philosophy professors at Highbridge. One’s a woman…”

“And one’s this kind of old guy with a striking taste in sweaters. Yeah, that’s my dad.” Odi winked. “I was a miracle baby, they were nearly in their fifties.”

“Huh,” said Mattie. “I was a teen pregnancy. I mean, only just, she was twenty by the time I was born, but… opposite ends of the spectrum.”

“We have a lot of those,” Odi observed. “Interest in sport. Jelly flavor sensitivity.”

“Taste in sweaters, apparently.”

“Hey,” Odi looked down at the burnt-orange one he was wearing at the moment. “Don’t knock it. When I change out of my football gear after practice, this thing is like the world’s softest hug.”

Mattie snorted. “So lame.”

“Guilty.” That slow smile again. “Anyway. The game sounds good. I’ll pick you up at five-thirty?”

She nodded. “Perfect. Oh, and if they win, which, they probably will, there’ll be a party after. All the players and cheerleaders will go… so I’m sort of counting on this whole ‘opposites attract’ thing to hold out, even when I’m surrounded by your fellow jocks.”

“I can tell you now, it definitely will,” he said, still smiling. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Mattie found herself smiling back. She’d only been joking, really - Odi definitely didn’t seem the kind of guy to have his head turned at a party, or anywhere else, and he was easily the sweetest guy she knew (after Max, but that went without saying). And besides, she didn’t have any jealousy issues with the other girls. The closest thing to an awkward encounter she and Odi might have would be with Leo. He was bound to be there - he was dating the team captain, after all. But Odi was so good at glossing over tense moments that Mattie couldn’t bring herself to worry, even then. It would be fine.

“So,” she said, changing back to the previous subject, “How weird is it that our parents probably know each other? They’ve probably, like, sat near each other in meetings and fought over funding.”

“Super weird,” Odi agreed. “Should we tell them? Or see how long it takes them to work it out on their own?”

“I think the second one sounds more fun,” said Mattie. “I mean, it took us…” she paused to work it out precisely.

“Three months and three weeks, and a day,” said Odi. “Wait, was I supposed to style that out? I have no idea. I’m a guy, I don’t pay attention to dates.”

Mattie burst out laughing. “Nice save.”

“It’s what I do.”

The fact that he’d known the numbers without having to think was almost ridiculously endearing. As if she needed more reasons to warm to him. Mattie gave a disbelieving shake of her head.

“You’re something else, you know that?”

“It takes one to know one,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye.


End file.
